Follower for file drawers



Dec. 5, 1944. g, DREBES 2,364,278

FOLLOWER FOR FILE DRAWERS Filed Feb. 8, 1945 INVENTOR.

J m5 AfffORNEx' Patented Dec. 5, 1944 FOLLOWE'R FOR FILE DRAWERS Fred C. Drebes, Chicago, Ill., asslgnor to Boynton & Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February 8, 1943, Serial No. 475,074, 1 Claim. ,(Cl.1292 9) This invention relates to an improved follower for a filing drawer and its principal object is to provide a file drawer follower which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture and highly'eflicient in use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a follower having a camming action On guide means on the sidewalls of a drawer to wedge the follower in a desired position.

A further object of this invention is to provide a unitary structure for guiding and binding the follower in a drawer.

- Still another object of this invention is toprovide a follower which will present a bearing face perpendicular to the bottomwall of a drawer for binding sheet material therein with a uniform surface pressure on such sheet material.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a filing drawer follower with projecting guiding means disposed in guideways in the side walls of the drawer which guiding means will bind the follower in the drawer without undue pressure on the bottom wall'thereof.

Another and still further object of this invention is to provide a novel compact follower for filing drawers and a follower requiring a minimum amount of space thus permitting the filing of sheet material relatively close to the rearmost wall of the drawer.

Other objects will'appear more fully hereinfollower arranged in its rearmost position .of ad- Justment.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional detail view. through the filing drawer and the follower taken substantially along line 33 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is anexplodedperspective view, partly in section showing the preferred manner of assembly of my improved follower;

Fig- 5 is a fragmentaryperspective view of a modification in structure of a camming dowel associated with my improved follower and form ing a part thereof;

Fig. 6 is an end view of the modified dowel seen inFis. 5; I i

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective'view of another modification of the camming dowel; and V Fig. 8 is an end view of the modified dowel shown in Fig. 7.

This invention is an improvement over the follower structures shown, described and claimed in application Serial No. 469,645, filed in the United States Patent Office by me on-the 21st dayof December, 1942, and my copending application Serial No. 475,073, filed simultaneously herewith.

The present invention has an advantage over other known devices by reason of its simple construction and its utilization of a minimum number of parts to accomplish the result sought. The improved follower is generally indicated as H and is best adapted for use in a conventional file drawer l0 having parallel sides H and I 2 and a front and back wall 13. and M respectively and also having a bottom wall l5 for supporting articles to be filed in the drawer. The followerll-l is adapted to coact with guideways l6 formed in the sidewalls II and I2 of the drawer which guideways are preferably, though not necessarily, formed on the inside walls of the drawer by rabbeting a. groove therein a substantial distance above the bottom wall [5 in a plane parallel with respect thereto.

The follower I! consists of a base member 18 presenting a vertical front face 19 adapted to press fiatly against the rearmost sheet of am rality of sheets 20 to retain such sheets in true vertical condition between the follower IT and the front wall l3 of the drawer. This type of follower is especially adapted for file drawers for special cards used in automatic office equipment wherein cards are inserted for analysis. In such equipment it is absolutely essentialthat the cards be perfectly flat, without creases, folds or bent corners, it being an essential also that the cards be not wavy. With the follower of my present invention th cards are held in vice-like actionbetween the front wall l3 and the vertical front face [9 whereby cards although warped or creased at the time of insertion, will, after a certain lapse of time, be ironed out and be in perfect condition for use in such automatic oflice equipment.

The base member is offset to its rear as at 2| to provide a narrow upstanding portion 22 along the vertical front face l9 and a relatively wide bottom portion 23 slidable over the bottom wall l5 of the drawer. The bottom portion 23 has a passage 24 formed therein along the long axis of the,follower which passage is so positioned as to be exposed to theguideways IS in theside walls II and I2 of the drawer. In carrying out the follower drawer.

purpose of my invention it is obvious that the passage 24 may be circular in cross section as shown, or it may be square in cross section so long as there is provided a sufficient inner bearing surface for reasons later to become apparent. I prefer, however, to construct; the base member l8 in the manner shown in the drawing, particularly in Fig. 4 thereof wherein the base member is shown to consist of two pieces 25 and 26 having semi-passages formed therein by rabbeting the abutting faces of the two pieces 25 and 26 as at 24. The rearmost piece 26 being shorter than the foremost one 25 conveniently provides for the offset at 2| heretofore referred to and is easily adhered to the front piece 25 by gluing or any other well-known manner of attaching the two. In order to assure perfect alignment of the rabbeting 24 of the two pieces 25-26, tongue and groove formations I8 may be milled into the abutting faces of the two pieces at the same time the rabbeting 24' is cut. Thus the two pieces 25'26 can be placed together after application of glue, without fear of offsetting the long axis of the two rabbeted grooves 24.

A dowel rod 21 is adapted to be disposed in the passage 24 and is cut to such length as to extend beyond the ends of the base member l8 sufficiently to extend into the grooves of the side walls II and I2 of the drawer so as to coact with the guideways IE to guide the follower I1 for longitudinal movement relative to the drawer [0. In the preferred embodiment I have shown the dowel rod 21. as being oval shaped in cross section. It is perfectly obvious, however, that' the dowel may be circular in cross section and of such dimension as to smoothly rotate within the passage 24 provided that the ends of the dowel are oval in cross section, or as shown in the modified form of dowel 30 in Figs. and 6 the ends 3| of the dowel rod may be cut to present two parallel faces 32-33 and the remaining segments of the dowel 30 rounded as at 34 to provide a camming surface at the ends 3| which are normally disposed within the guideways It as hereinbefore explained.

Means for manipulating the dowel rod 21 or 30 is provided by inserting a peg 28 into the dowel rod at right angle with respect to its long axis. The rearmost piece 26 of the base member 18 is cut away to form a slot 29 through which the peg 28 may be extended whereby to press the latter into a receiving opening 28 drilled into the dowel rod in its mid-region. As shown in Fig. 4 the dowel rod may be assembled in the base member with peg 28 attached when the two pieces 25 and'26 are glued thus providing a complete I! ready for insertion into a filing To arrange the follower I! in the drawer ID the follower is placed on the bottom wall l5 and diagonally across the drawer with the vertical :front face i9 exposed toward the front wall Hi. "The follower is then turned to extend the projecting ends of the dowel rod 21 into the guideways 16, there being required only a slight pres- .sure to spring the follower I! into transverse wardly to rotate the dowel rod 21, the high points of which cammingly engage the side walls of the grooves or guideways l 6 thus binding the follower firmly against the sheets 20.

As shown in Fig. 2 the follower I! of this invention is adapted to be operated as well in its extreme rearmost position of adjustment as in any of its intermediate positions in the drawer. It is customary in filing drawers to provide a handhold in the back wall which is accomplished by cutting out a portion ofthe back wall I4 as at 35 to form a gripping portion 36 adjacent the top of the back wall. The cut out 35 conveniently permits the follower with peg 28 extended to abut the back wall M in which condition a person can insert his fingers from the rear of the cut out 35 to urge the peg 28 toward the base member 18 to bind the follower in the drawer. Likewise, with the follower flush against the back wall I a person can easily release the follower l8 by gaining access to the peg 28 through the space between the upstanding portion 22 of the follower ll and the back wall 14 by reason of the offset 2| heretofore pointed out.

With this combination and arrangement of parts I have provided a compact follower member for filing drawers and means for binding the same in various positions of adjustment without exerting any undue pressure on the bottom wall of the drawer, such binding means operating solely upon the guideways formed in the side walls of the drawer.

The arrangement, however, is equally adapted for utilizing the bottom wall of the drawer in the binding operation and this is brought about by shaping the free ends of the dowel rod with an eccentric as shown in Figs. '7 and 8. Such eccentrio is provided by a modified rod 31 having a circular cross section and having that portion of its ends adapted to extend into the guideways l6 cut off-center as shown at 38 in Fig. 8. With this form of dowel rod there is a bearing action only at the upper wall of the grooves or guideways l6 thus exerting a downward pressure through the base member l8 to press the latter firmly against the bottom wall l5 of the drawer 10. This form also utilizes the rotating dowel carried by the base member thus presenting a unitary follower as in the preferred forms hereinbefore explained.

In each of the forms of camming means shown the follower block is so constructed as to at all times present a truly vertical front face. This is well illustrated in Fig. 2 wherein the lower face of the bottom portion 23 rests flatly upon the bottom wall I5 of the drawer; the front face I9 being perpendicular to the lower face of the bottom portion 23 will therefore also be perpendicu. lar with respect to the bottom wall of the drawer.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

In a device of the class described for a filing drawer having parallel channel-shaped guideways on the inner sidewalls thereof a substantial distance above the bottom wall of the drawer, a follower, arranged transversely of the drawer, and slidable over the bottom wall thereof, means for maintaining the longitudinal position of said-foljustment, and means for manipulating said rod for the purpose aforesaid, each said cam means being oval shaped in cross section and having an upper and a lower engaging surface adapted to bear against the upper and lower walls of an adjacent channel shaped guideway.

FRED C. DREBES. 

